Wednesday, February 7, 2018

February 7 On This Day in Australian History

1788 - *sticks plum in cheek*
The Col-o-knee orv NSW warz form-o-lee pro-clay-med.
(The joint wot ran on rum was official, like).
David Collins climbed up on his soap box and formally proclaimed the Colony of NSW with Captain Whatshisname Arthur Phillip as Governor and chief cook and bottle washer.

1793 - The good lil free settlers had most pleased the ruler of the Kingdom of Oz and thus he rewarded them with the first land grants at Liberty Plains (now known as Strathfield - Homebush).

1814 - The Hawkesbury Packet sailed from Shoalhaven; Geordy also sailed from Shoalhaven with 1000 ft of cedar as cargo.

1845 - John Vidall was Hanged at Darlinghurst for the murder of Thomas Warne in George St.

1879 - Kerangie, a steamer ship was wrecked in dense fog off Point Hicks, in eastern Victoria. Crew saved with the assistance of the Government steamer Victoria.

1881 - A pearling cutter named Adela was wrecked ashore in a cyclone, at Mangrove Islands near the Fortescue River, WA.

1881 - Alpha was another pearling schooner that was wrecked ashore in the same cyclone, Mangrove Islands near the Fortescue River, WA.

1881 - Banangara was a third pearling schooner wrecked ashore in cyclone, Mangrove Islands near the Fortescue River, WA.

1881 - Fortescue, the fourth pearling schooner to be wrecked ashore in a cyclone, Mangrove Islands near the Fortescue River, WA.

1881 - Morning Star was a pearling cutter that foundered in the same cyclone, Mangrove Islands near the Fortescue River, WA,where her master drowned.

1890 - Those dratted women were getting in everywhere, even in the doctorin' game when Dr Emma Constance Stone became the first registered female doctor in Oz.

1895 - Alfred Grenon was Hanged at Darlinghurst for the attempted murder of Thomas Heavey at Elizabeth Bay.

1901 - G.S.S. Pearling lugger. Lost near Point Cloates, WA,

1904 - A little something different for rail enthusiasts -
The Spring Vale to Spring Vale Cemetery train line opened for business of transporting the dearly departed to the last choo-choo step in life.

1908 - North Sydney Rugby League Footy club was hatched, winning their first Premiership in 1921 and again in 1922 but have had a rather dry spell ever since.

1911 - Lapwing was a schooner that was lost in a hurricane near Onslow, WA.

1928 - Aussie aviator Bert Hinkler took to the air from England in his record busting 15 day solo flight to Darwin and for his hard work amidst the clouds Bert won £10,000.

1933 - Australian territory in Antarctica
The Australian Antarctic Territory was formally proclaimed by Douglas Mawson aboard the Discovery in Antarctic waters. Britain had ceded Antarctic claims to Australia and the Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act came into effect from 24 August 1936.

1967 - Bushfires known as 'Black Tuesday' wrought havoc in Tassie when they ringed Hobart, leaving 62 dead, more than 1,000 homes destroyed, and more than a quarter of a million livestock lost.

1967 - The Crow-Eater State Government issued free text books to primary school students at both state and independent schools for the first time on this day.

1967 - Distinguished Aboriginal author and inventor David Unaipon died at Tailem Bend. His achievements were later commemorated by the national David Unaipon Award for Aboriginal writers, instituted in 1988, and by his portrait, featured on one side of the $50 note, first issued in 1995.

1967 - The Bee Gees arrived back in the UK after 9 years in Australia.

1969 - The horrendous Violet Town train crash happened when the driver of the Southern Aurora died from a heart attack while at the controls 5 kms before the Violet Town Crossing Loop ; the train did not stop at the red signal at the crossing loop and ploughed head long into a freight train, resulting in 9 fatalities and 40 people with injuries.

1971 - The national weekly newpaper The National Times was launched in Sydney

1971 - Major flooding occurred along the Macintyre, Gwydir, Culgoa, Hunter and Darling Rivers. Gunnedah experienced its 4th highest flood.
10 lives were lost in total.

1972 - Gough Whitlam promised that a Labor government would grant Aboriginal land rights, provide free legal aid for Aborigines who believed that their rights are being denied, and overrule state laws which discriminated against them.

1973 - The Northern Territory Administration was abolished and replaced by the Department of the Northern Territory.

1973 - Nisshin Maru No. 8.was a tuna fishing vessel that was sailing to Hobart for a mechanical inspection when she hit Pedra Branca Rock, off the far south coast Tasmania, and sank in deep water within a few minutes. In the ensuing confusion only one of the crew of 22, engineer Yoshiichi Meguro, managed to clamber onto the rocks and escape drowning, from where he was rescued..

1985 - The state of Qld had got itself into quite a state when a State of Emergency was twittered from the rooftops as the Electricity Board workers all walked out.
900 workers were sacked with new contracts drawn up with a strict no-strike policy.

1986 – Lindy Chamberlain was released from prison after serving three years upon the finding of new evidence which eventually led a judge to overturn her conviction.

1995 - Fifteen people were arrested in a violent protest clash with police at Albert Park following further cutting down of trees. This was in protest at the staging of the Grand Prix at Albert Park.

1997 - The Darwin Club, one of Darwin's oldest, finished up operations in Admiralty House on the Esplanade after closing its doors in 1996.

1998 - In Australia over 1000 defense force personnel were called to help clean up parts of the Northern Territory where the worst floods in 40 years resulted from the overflowing Katherine River.

2006 - Mario Condello (53), an Australian underworld figure due to face court on incitement to murder charges, was shot dead in his driveway overnight, bringing the toll in a gangland war to 28. Melbourne's gang war began in 1998 when self-styled "Godfather" Alphonse Gangitano, 40, was shot dead in his laundry.

2007 - ACT Health says there is a small chance that up to 97 babies who had biopsies of the colon performed between February 1987 and mid-October 1988 may have been infected with Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or HIV, after it is discovered that sterilisation procedures were inadequate. All the children are being sought to be offered testing.

2008 - A new security pact between Australia and Indonesia came into force at a ceremony in Perth attended by the foreign ministers of the at-times testy neighbors.

2009 – Bushfires in Victoria, coupled with searing winds and the highest temperature ever recorded in our nation's history (46.4 degrees) resulted in 173 deaths, destroyed 2000 houses and 4500 square kilometres of country, making this the worst natural disaster in Australia.

2011 - In Western Australia firefighters battled two wildfires, water bombing them from above as they tried to stop their spread. One on the outskirts of Perth destroyed at least 40 homes and left a firefighter injured.

2012 - Australia imposed new travel bans and financial sanctions on Syrian leaders on as it stepped up actions to force an end to violence against Syria's civilian population.

2013 - An Australian government report said doping was widespread among professional and amateur athletes and demanded investigators name offenders to protect clean athletes' reputations.

2014 - The member for New England and Agriculture Minister, Barnaby Joyce, revealed he held talks with all the nation's banks as part of a drought relief package he developed for Cabinet.

2015 - Teachers and education experts in NSW warned of a looming crisis in the system, with English as a Second Language teachers struggling in the face of a rising demand for the courses.

2016 - Questions were raised over the management of Northern Territory political party 1 Territory, with members barred from talking to the media and kept in the dark over who made up the executive committee.

2017 - Senior executives at Australia Post were earning more than $1 million a year, a Senate committee revealed, with the managing director's total package worth $5.6 million.